Other possible reasons for under-recording suggested by the ONS include more low-level crimes being dealt with informally and outside the formal crime-recording system, with officers given greater discretion.
"I was planning to speak to our new Police and Crime Commissioner before making any formal announcement but due to circumstances out of my control I have informed the organisation today, " said Mr Matthews.
Bishop Mario Rios Montt, brother of the former president, later claimed the government had offered the church a deal which it refused many weeks before: the priest would be freed if his superiors would issue a formal statement that neither army nor government had any part in the crime.